Virtual Staging

Three years ago, while the market tanked, we saw that we had an increase of photo shoots of empty homes/townhomes/condos. Whether it was a result of divorce, foreclosure, death - there was a sharp increase in home inventory. The empty homes were all competing with the already large inventory of well furnished, staged homes.

Unfortunately, with the high costs associated with rental furniture and staging, neither the realtor or the seller could afford to properly stage the house. That's the time we decided to develop a Virtual Staging arm of our business. This service has been growing with time and has been a bit controversial amongst realtors and stagers.

The bottom line is .... it works. We're not changing the structure of a home (ie. inserting a brick fireplace, knocking down walls, etc.). We're just adding "personal property" to the empty rooms. Home buyers know that the furniture won't be there when they move in. We also place a stamp on the photos (upon the request of the realtor) that states that the rooms are "Virtually Staged."

The realtors that have used our services are ecstatic. They're putting the photos on their website, on the MLS, on their brochures and on their own website.

We've priced this service low enough to make it a no-brainer to purchase. It's only $180 for 3 rooms and we've seen the bill paid by either the realtor or the home seller.

If you would like to offer this service to your realtors and would like to subcontract our services, please feel free to email me (mike@virtualaccesstours.com).

Here's a sample site the we created that shows a few before/after examples of our work.

We recently were invited to a "throw-down" involving a staging company. They provided the photograph of the empty room. They did not tell us what room it was, giving us the license to do as we please. They went in and staged the room with rented furniture and accessories. The last photo was done by our graphics team.

If you would like to sell / subcontract our services, please give me a call. Our prices are the lowest in the industry and we can work transparently so that you can private label this service to your clients.

Jackson, NJ, March 1, 2011: Michael Basch, president of Virtual Access Tours, announced today that Barry Blackman, a pioneer in the digital photo-illustration field will assume the office of Vice President in charge of Production for the Virtual Staging Division.

Barry Blackman was one of the first photographers in the country to have a color workstation in his studio that turned out high quality digital imagery for the advertising and editorial industries. Since then, he has produced two books, countless seminars, one-man shows, and speaking engagements in Europe and the United States. Blackman will now bring his years of experience creating award winning magazine covers for national publications including Newsweek, Time, Discover, and Sports Illustrated and advertising campaigns for fortune 500 companies including Intel, Pepsi Cola, American Express, Sony, and Marriot Hotels to producing the finest virtual staging for the real estate industry available today.

Blackman says,” By combining 3D computer graphics with digital photography, my staff will make selling empty homes and condominiums that are difficult to sell even in the best of times, easier to sell by creating a homey environment with virtual furniture and home furnishings.”

Until now the real estate agent and seller had to rely on the ability of potential buyers to imagine living in the empty rooms before them.

As Basch points out, “Under Mr. Blackman’s direction, the talented artists of our Virtual Staging division can enable potential buyers to visualize what it would be like to live in those empty homes and condos. It would no longer cost a small fortune to rent furniture and decorate in order to make the buyer feel comfortable in what could be their new home.”

Our Virtual Staging division currently services dealers and clients worldwide. Packages are available at a very attractive price point for the agent and seller.